This invention relates to fishing lures and more particularly to a quick release connection for detachably connecting hooks, fishing line, and other articles to a lure.
Fishing lures commonly include one or more hooks that are permanently attached to the lure body. The permanently attached hooks, however, make storing and handling the lures difficult. Also, where the permanently attached hooks are ill suited for a particular application for the lure, the entire lure must be removed from the line and replaced with one having the desired hooks. This requirement that the entire lure be changed when different hooks or other features are desired creates the need for a large number of lures and further exacerbates the storage and handling problem of lures with permanently attached hooks.
In addition to the hooks permanently attached to the fishing lure, fishing lures also include a permanently attached eye by which the lure may be connected to the fishing line. The preferred method for attaching the fishing lure to the fishing line is simply to tie the line to the eye. Tying fishing lures to fishing line, however, takes time and skill and is particularly difficult to perform while riding in a small, unstable, fishing boat. Numerous connectors exist but are often bulky and interfere with the action of the lure.
Lures with detachable hooks are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 3,009,279 to Jacobson and U.S. Pat. No. 2,884,732 to Bailer show respectively a J-slot arrangement and a key arrangement for detachably connecting hooks to a fishing lure. U.S. Pat. No. 3,357,124 to Stepacoff, et al., uses another arrangement for detachably connecting a fishing hook to a lure. All of these devices, however, suffer in that the connector member upon which the hook is mounted must be aligned perfectly with the receiving arrangement on the lure in order to make the connection. Also, all of these devices prevent the hook from rotating on its base. Furthermore, the Stepacoff, et al. detachable hook arrangement interferes with the appearance and function of the lure and can allow the hook to release accidentally.